In shock: The scene outside a Minneapolis business Thursday. A gunman killed four people, wounded four others and then killed himself.

Richard Tsong-TaatariiMinneapolis Star Tribune/MCT /Landov

Originally published on September 28, 2012 7:03 am

"This is something we see on the news in other parts of the country, not here," Minneapolis Deputy Police Chief Kris Arneson said Thursday night as her department began investigating why a man apparently walked into a sign company, killed at least four people and then took his own life.

The early signs, as The Star Tribune reports, point to "a man who apparently had just lost his job" at the company as being the gunman. He apparently "opened fire, killing the company's founder and three others and wounding four others" before committing suicide. Three of the wounded are reported to be in critical condition.

St. Paul's Pioneer Press says "police radio traffic during the incident indicated the killer had been fired from Accent Signage Systems earlier in the day."

People who live in Minneapolis Bryn Mawr neighborhood, where Accent Signage had its offices, are in shock. "It's insane. It's crazy," neighbor Heather Buckingham told KARE-TV. "I know the guy, I know all the people."

The TV station adds that Accent Signage is a small company with a "rich history [and a] global impact." It "holds a patent for technology that imprints Braille on things like hotel room numbers and restroom signs ... employs about 30 people and earns $5 to $10-million dollars each year."